HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Harrisburg plans to increase trash fees by 10% in 2024 to help cover rising costs, but the city treasurer is asking the mayor and city council to reconsider and focus on unpaid bills instead.

Treasurer Dan Miller is proposing his own plan to deal with over $12 million in delinquent — or unpaid — trash fees, but the city said the fee increase it wants is not related to the unpaid fees and Miller’s plan could have unintended consequences.

“I think they should nix that…I think that’s unnecessary,” Miller said of the city’s trash fee increase plan.

He said the city should focus on the $12 million in unpaid trash bills. A trash fee increase, he said, would punish people who are paying their bills on time.

“And what are we going to do? We’re going to increase the rate 10%. These people who haven’t been paying, what’s the consequence?” he said.

Miller’s plan to address that has two parts. First, bill trash annually as part of people’s real estate tax. If that is not paid, it goes to county collections for a year. After that, if it is still unpaid, the county can sell the property.

“So people know that if they don’t pay their real estate taxes, they have a big consequence. They could lose their property,” Miller said, explaining that gives the city the leverage to get people to pay.

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Second, Miller wants to focus on landlords by enforcing residential permit requirements. Any overdue bills, including trash, have to be paid in full before the permit is approved. Miller estimates about 70 percent of unpaid trash fee accounts are rentals.

“If someone comes in and tells me I need to pay or they’re going to shut my property down and shut my revenue source off, well, guess what? I’m going to pay,” he said.

City officials argue increasing the trash fee and collecting unpaid bills are unrelated. Business Administrator Dan Hartman said Harrisburg has not raised rates in 17 years, but inflation has made keeping rates steady impossible.

“We have to go to the incinerator. We have to pay staff. We have vehicle costs,” Hartman said. “We have to pay the bills. We cannot not have the money.”

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Miller said trying to recoup the $12 million would be a better way to cover rising costs, but Hartman said relying on that debt is unsustainable. Hartman said the city’s Law Bureau is working on trying to get the money back. Since October, they have secured over $900,000 through methods like repayment agreements.

Hartman also said Miller’s plan to go after landlords could backfire.

“You’re either going to operate illegally or you’re going to raise rates on your tenants or you’re going to close down,” Hartman said. “So you have to look at the human side of what that effect could have on the rental side.”

Any plan would have to be approved by the City Council. Council members will vote on the city’s trash fee increase Tuesday night, and the city expects them to approve it. Miller said he sent his proposal to them two weeks ago but did not hear back.

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